Art. VI.—Thesaurus Graces Lingua ab H. Stephano constructs.
Editio nova, auctior et emendatior. Vol. I. Partes I—IV.
Londini, in aedibus Valpianis, 1815—1818.

Henry Stephens complained, in a bad epigram, that his The-
saurus, which was a great treasure to others, was none to himself;
in other words, that the expenses of his Treasury had impoverished
his exchequer. That illustrious, but somewhat fretful, scholar, did
not possess the inestimable advantage, which modern authors and
editors enjoy, of living in a subscribing age. The art of puffing
was then but little understood or practised. Such a thing as &
Prospectus was never heard of; there were none of those conve-
nient vehicles of literary information, which Mr. Murray and his
brethren append to the covers of their periodical publications, by
which the intelligence of forthcoming works is dispersed, with in
credible swiftness, over every part of the reading world. Of these
advantages the publisher of the present edition of the 'Thesaurus'
has availed himself with great success. Indeed, without a certain
prospect of liberal support, it would have been an act of the great
est imprudence to undertake a work of such vast labour and ex-
pense. - - The list of subscribers to this republication (if indeed
it deserves the name) amounts to nearly eleven hundred; a number
almost, if not altogether, unprecedented in the annals of literature.

Stephens lamented that his Thesaurus, when printed, did not
sell; Mr. Valpy's is sold before it is printed : this is surely a great
improvement in the condition of those, who labour in the mines of
learning, and who have too frequently brought up the precious ore
for the use of others, without enriching themselves. The great fa-
cility, with which subscriptions are now obtained by the publishers
of expensive classical works, seems to indicate two things; an in
crease of national wealth, and a growing taste for ancient litera-
ture. The enormous sums of money which are annually expend-
ed, not only in projects of public utility, or of Christian benevo-
lence, but upon the luxuries of learning, and the elegancies of art,
bespeak an abundance of the means of life, greatly at variance with
the picture which is commonly drawn of our national prosperity.
And if we are to estimate the present state of ancient learning in
this country by the gross and tangible arithmetic of the pounds,
shillings, and pence, subscribed for Delphin,(a) Regent, and Vario-

164

rum Classics, we shall be led to form a very exalted notion of the
erudition of the age in which we, live. Eleven hundred of the no-
bility, gentry, and clergy, eagerly subscribing their guinea a num-
ber (and some their two guineas) for a Greek Thesaurus, and
feasting upon each livraison as it comes out, compose a phalanx of
philology, which may be expected to defend the interests of clas-
sical literature against all the anti-Hellenists of the day. Our
readers perceive that we take it for granted, that all subscribers
can and do read the books for which they subscribe. Since, how
ever, it is within the limits of possibility, that some of the proprie
tors of Mr. Valpy's Thesaurus may have been hitherto prevented
by sickness, or occupation, or some other cause, from contracting
an intimate acquaintance with the work to which they have set
their names; we shall perhaps be rendering them an acceptable
service, if we institute an examination of the first four numbers of
the Thesaurus, and inquire how far they will justify us in looking
for a complete or, at least, a useful Greek lexicon. An investiga
tion of this kind, we apprehend, falls more peculiarly within our
jurisdiction, as literary censors, and protectors-general of the read-
ing world. The editor, who puts forth proposals for publishing
by subscription an expensive work, makes a large demand upon
the confidence of his subscribers, and pledges his faith to a full and
accurate performance of the conditions upon which their support
is obtained.

[The reviewer proceeds to give an account of 'Greek Lexico-
graphy,' and 'of the celebrated scholar, upon the basis of whose
extraordinary work the present publication is constructed' — the
latter of which we select.]

Henri Etienne, whose name being latinized, according to the
custom of that age, into Stephanus, has amongst English scholars
degenerated into Stephens, was the son of Robert Etienne, and
the grandson of Henri, one of the earliest French printers, and, by
the mother's side, of Josse Bade of Asc, better known to book col-
lectors by the name of Badius Ascensius. He was born at Paris,
in the year 1528, and grew enamoured of Greek at a very early
age, in consequence of seeing some boys act the Medea of Euri-
Eides. His father caused him to be instructed in Greek before he
ad learned Latin; a plan of teaching which Henry Stephens him
self always recommended, and which ought, in our opinion, to be
generally adopted. While yet a boy, his skill in calligraphy was
so remarkable, that he was thought to rival the Greek writing of
Angelo Vegezio, the Cretan, who gave the models for the beauti-
ful types, which were at that time used in the King's printing-office

165

at Paris. Having spent some time, and not a little money, in vi-
siting the scholars and the libraries of Italy, and in collecting
manuscripts, he paid a visit to England in the year 1550, and at
London went to see the lions in the Tower, one of whom danced a
jig while a man fiddled; an incident which he afterwards employ-
ed to justify the well-known story of Arion and the dolphin. He
began his typographical career in 1554, in the 26th year of his
age; and continued it for the space of more than forty years;
during which time he printed a prodigious number of ancient au-
thors, many of them from manuscripts, exercising at the same time
the office of a learned and ingenious, though somewhat bold critic.
His claim to the title of the most learned of printers, no one pre-
tends to dispute; few scholars, since the revival of letters, have
succeeded in contracting so great a familiarity with the Greek lan-
guage as Henry Stephens. Subsequent critics have discovered
and pointed out many of its beauties and peculiarities, with which
he was perhaps unacquainted; but for a general and comprehen-
sive knowledge of its construction, and for an almost vernacular
intimacy with it, Stephens is nearly unrivalled. The only person,
perhaps, who can be put in competition with him in this respect,
was bis son-in-law, the celebrated and excellent Isaac Casaubon.
His editions of the classical authors, when compared with those of
former printers, are highly valuable for their accuracy, and from
the circumstance of their having been, in most instances, either
printed from, or collated with, manuscripts. In the year 1572, he
published his Thesaurus GraecEe Lingua?, a work which had been
lanned, and in part executed, many years before, by his father,
ut the completion of which was reserved for the son; and it may
be doubted whether there exists a more stupendous monument of
human industry; and learning. It appears to have been eleven
years in printing; the same time which Robert Stephens had em
ployed in the publication of his Latin Thesaurus. In the follow-
ing year he printed, in a separate volume, two glossaries, which,
although not a part of the Thesaurus, are to be considered, toge-
ther with his Animadversions and the Treatise on the Attic dialect,
as an Appendix and completion of the work. A second edition
was published, probably about the year 1580. To this eminent
man belongs the praise of having been the first to point out, how
ever imperfectly, the roots of the Greek language; and to reduce
them to their derivatives and compounds.

The profit to which Stephens might justly look, as a well-de-
served remuneration for the labour of so many years, is said to have
been intercepted by the treachery of one Joannes Scapula (Jean
Epaule, we suppose) who published an Epitome of the Thesaurus
in the year 1579. The account commonly given of this transaction
is, that Scapula, being employed by Stephens as a corrector of the

166

press, during the publication of his Thesaurus, extracted the most
important words and explanations, comprised them in one volume,
and published them under his own name. In consequence of this
notion, the memory of poor Scapula has been loaded with reproach.
It does not, however, appear, from any complaint of Stephens him-
self, that Scapula was guilty of a breach of trust; since it is proba-
ble that he had quitted his employment, long before the completion
of the Thesaurus; and as his Lexicon was not published till seven
years after it, we see no reason to doubt the fact of his having epi-
tomized the Thesaurus itself. This is all which is laid to his charge
by Stephens; an act indeed of ingratitude, and to a certain degree
of dishonesty, but not quite so bad as to deserve the appellation of
'gross disingenuity and fraud.' Scapula himself declares, that he
had been for several years occupied about his plan, when he met
with the Thesaurus. If this work was reprinted about the year
1580, we may fairly doubt, whether the effect of Scapula's Epitome
was so ruinous to Stephens as it is represented to have been. At
all events, it did not produce the immediate consequence of bank-
ruptcy, which is stated, in the biographical dictionaries, to have
followed the publication of the Thesaurus; for, not to mention that
he received, in 1578, a douceur of 3000 livres, and an order for a
pension of 300 livres, from Henri III., it appears that in 1579 he
obtained a privilege for the exclusive publication of the Greek and
Latin historians; and that he possessed a country house, which
was burnt down in 1585. The real causes of the confusion into
which his affairs fell, were the civil wars which followed the death
of Henri HI. Whatever may have been the occasion of his distress,
the melancholy fact is, that this indefatigable printer and eminent
scholar died in a hospital at Lyons in 1598, in a state of poverty
and mental imbecility. - -

With regard to the Thesaurus itself, there are three things to be
remarked. First, that the examples of words were collected by
the various contributors to the work, some from printed editions of
authors, some from MSS. some from memory, some from conjectu-
ral correction. Secondly, that several Greek authors, especially
grammarians, have been published since the compilation of the
Thesaurus, containing many words of which the existence was not
then known. Thirdly, the science of etymology, which H. Ste-
phens took for his guide in the arrangement of his lexicon, was
then in its infancy; and indeed the genius of the language itself,
was but imperfectly understood. These considerations will point
out to us the nature and cause of the leading defects, conspicuous
in this great work; viz. inaccurate or falsified quotations, the defi-
ciency of several thousand words, and a wrong classification, both
of primitives and derivatives. It was not till the age of Hemster-
huys, that the analogies of the Greek language were developed

167

with any degree of clearness or consistency. At the same time, we
ought rather to be surprised, that Stephens, under existing disad-
vantages, accomplished so much, even in this department, than
that he left so much undone. Certain, however, it is, that an ir-
regular and unphilosophical arrangement of the derivatives under
their supposed primitives, renders the Thesaurus most inconve-
nient even to the advanced scholar, and to the youthful student al-
most worse than useless. In this respect the lexicon of Scapula is
vastly more serviceable, both from its greater simplicity, and more
moderate dimensions. For a Thesaurus, which should contain a
comprehensive view of the language, the plan which Stephens pur-
sued, is, in its general outlines, undoubtedly the best. The most
philosophical arrangement is, to class the primitives alone in al-
phabetical order, and to range each family of words under its re-
spective head. This is the method pursued in natural philosophy;
lay the basis first, and deduce from it all the varieties, which are
produced by an alteration in the disposition of its constituent parts,
or by the admixture of extraneous substances. But this is far more
difficult in philology than in chemistry. The primitives of a lan-
guage are for the most part to be discovered only by conjecture
and analogical reasoning. The richness and variety of the deri-
vatives and compounds, threw by degrees the simpler forms into
disuse; and oftentimes it is only by unravelling and separating the
former, that the latter can be extricated. The Greek language, as
it has descended to us in the monuments of ancient literature, con-
tains but a small number of radical and original words : the inves-
tigation and arrangement of these roots was reserved for the dili-
gence and sagacity of Hemsterhuys and Valckenaer, who were
enabled by the help of analogy, which in some instances, perhaps,
they have pursued too far, to ascend through the derivatives to a
great number of primitives which no longer exist. It is obvious,
that in the application of analogy, a plausible, but oftentimes fal-
lacious ground of reasoning, to the science of etymology, the
greatest caution and moderation are requisite : and it is in this
respect, that almost all, who have turned their thoughts to this de-
partment of grammar, have failed. Etymologists have always
had too great a propensity to generalize and classify, without ma-
king due allowance for the anomalies and incidental varieties of
language. In attempting to refer every word to its primitive, they
have forgotten that a considerable portion of most languages, and
certainly of the Greek, was imported, in secondary and compound
words, from the dialects of other people. It is altogether sur-
prising to hear such a scholar as Valckenaer talking of the 'primi-
tive significations stamped upon words by the philosophical found
ers of the Greek tongue;' when we have every reason to conclude,
from all we know of early Grecian history, that the language of

168

that people, originally differing very greatly in different districts,
was gradually refined from barbarism by the operation of a
commercial intercourse with the Asiatic nations; and enriched by
the admixture of foreign words. That many primitives of the an-
cient Pelasgic tongue may still be traced, particularly in verbs of
the sixth conjugation, (according to the old classification,) and in
verbs in pi, we are ready to allow; but considering the natural
growth and progress of the language of a people, situate as the
Greeks were, we are by no means disposed to assent to the posi-
tion of Valckenaer, that 'the trunk of a language always remains
the same; that the primitives may always be elicited by the help of
analogy; that those which no longer exist, may be restored, and
the defects of the lexicons supplied.' Be this, however, as it may,
one thing is certain; that the science of etymology had made but
little progress amongst the scholars of the sixteenth century, and
was imperfectly understood by Stephens, and even by Sylburgius,
[a pupil of Stephens, of great erudition, who assisted in the whole
work,] who was much more clear-sighted than his tutor. We must
not, however, attribute to Stephens the merit of having been the
first to devise an arrangement of the Greek language, with refer-
ence to its primitives; the same thing had been conceived, and per-
haps in part executed by Constantino; and it was from his father
Robert, that Henry Stephens took the idea.

[Of the several modes of improvement which offered them-
selves to the present Editors, in the new Thesaurus]—a further
accession of utility was to be obtained by referring, under
particular words, to the writings of modern critics and philolo-
gists, who have illustrated their meanings or properties. In
this respect the present editors have been eminently diligent, and
leave little to be desired. It is but justice to them to observe, that
they have displayed a most extensive reading, and much curious
research. Scarcely any sources of information are open, to which
they have not had recourse; and we are therefore the more incli-
ned to regret, that they have allowed themselves so little time for
the thorough digestion and judicious arrangement of their mate-
rials. They seem, indeed, to have been overwhelmed by the deluge
of philological information which has been poured in upon them,
and to have lost sight of every thing like selection or compression.
A reference to critical works is necessary only in particular cases;
and in no instance should any critical or philological discussion be
introduced at length into the Thesaurus, the utility of which ob-
viously varies directly as its comprehensiveness, and inversely as its
bulk.—A Thesaurus is a book where the student looks not for dis-
sertation, but for authority. We wish that the present editors had
kept this consideration in view : as it is, we regret to say, — they
have detailed page after page of discussion and diatribe, till poor

169

Stephens and his Thesaurus are often lost sight of in the fray. It
is worse than useless to collect, or even to specify all the passages
where a word is used, unless it be of rare occurrence, or have some
peculiarity, which renders it more than commonly remarkable :
and it is still more objectionable, to throw together in a dictionary
all that has been said upon it by grammarians and critics; yet this
is going on to an alarming extent (alarming to the eyes and the
pockets of the subscribers) in the new edition of the Thesaurus.
But least of all can it be tolerated, that in a work, which cannot
possibly be made too compendious, (so that nothing important be
omitted,) the compiler should indulge in discussions and observa-
tions quite foreign from the subject in hand, and oftentimes having
nothing to do with the word under consideration. [Here instan-
ces are specified.]—This is a shameful abuse of the reader's time
and patience, and makes it quite a farce to talk of the republica-
tion of Stephens's Thesaurus, which the editors have cut into small
strips, and inserted here and there between their own incongruous
and irrelevant masses of matter, as the Irishman passed his light
guinea, by slipping it into three-pence which he paid at the turn
pike. So completely disguised and overwhelmed is the good old
lexicographer, that if he could suddenly revive, and contemplate
his posthumous growth, he would doubt his own identity, as Tri-
velino did, when he awoke with the bridle in his hand, but without
the horse. We do not deny that his equipments were such as to
require considerable improvement, both in capacity and ornament;
but it is contrary to all principles of taste, to load him with half a
score wigs and hats by different makers, and of various fashions;
and to deck his carcass with such cumbrous furniture —
To wit, twelve jackets, twelve surtouts,
Twelve pantaloons, twelve pair of boots.

The editors, in a paper drawn up for the purpose of obviating
some objections of Professor Hermann, have endeavoured to de-
fend themselves, by stating, that 'it has been their great object as
' far as it is practicable, without disturbing the arrangement of H.
' Stephens, to bring into one and the same article all the various
' synonymes, because by their juxtaposition they mutually reflect
* light upon each other.' But this defence is totally inapplicable
to a great proportion of the discussions of which we complain. In
the last-mentioned instance, a multiplicity of words are brought
together, to swell an article to an immoderate size, which have no
common bond of connexion but their termination. This might
have been excused in a new edition ofHoogeveen's lexicon, where
the words are ranged according to their endings; but in the The-
saurus it is an unseemly and unnatural excrescence.

For our own amusement, and for the information of the subscri-
bers, many of whom, we apprehend, are ignorant of the advanta-

170

ges they possess in prospect, we have made a little calculation of
the probable bulk, expense, and time of publication of the im-
proved Thesaurus, which we have reason to believe is within
bounds : at all events, as it is a rule of three sum, any error which
has slipped in will be easily detected. The 688th page of Mr.
Valpy's Thesaurus corresponds with the 53d of the original work;
consequently, if the same proportion be observed throughout, the
new edition will be just thirteen times as bulky as the old one.
Now the original work consists of three goodly volumes in folio,
besides the fourth volume of indexes, and the fifth of glossaries. It
is true that a very considerable part of the fourth volume is taken
up with the Appendix, which the present Editors have inserted in
the body of the work : but it is not to fee doubted, that the addi-
tions and corrections, which they will have to make at the conclu-
sion of the work, will be in proportion to the bulk of it; so that
our calculation will not exceed the truth. And thus it appears,
that the actual dictionary will occupy at least thirty-nine folio
volumes; but as it is reasonable to conclude, that the farther the
work proceeds, the greater will be the accumulation of materials,
which the Editors seem resolved to pour out ὂλω θυλαχω into this
capacious reservoir, it is not unreasonable to calculate upon the
addition of three or four volumes extra. To these we have to
add the treatises, which the Editors have thought fit to publish in
the first two numbers, and which, in conjunction with the Glossa-
ries, will form a separate volume.—Upon the whole, we may
reckon that the work, when complete, will occupy at least fifty
good folio volumes, and very probably more. The price of each
Number to the subscribers is one guinea for the small paper, and
two guineas for the large. Each volume will comprehend at least
four numbers; so that the cost of the whole work will be to the
little subscribers 200 guineas, and to the large, 400, 'inest sua
gratia parvis.' This we believe to be a calculation which falls
short of the truth.

The time which the publication will occupy, according to the
present rate of proceeding, will not he less than seventy years — a
melancholy consideration for those subscribers, who are ambitious
of seeing their names in the list of the 1 100; since we are informed,
in a notice prefixed to one of the parts, that the Dedications, List
of Subscribers, Sic. will be given in the last number. But who can
undertake to say what will be done or given, in a book which is
to make its appearance in the year 1889 ? Messrs. Valpy and Bar-
ker, together with all their subscribers — printer, editor, readers
and critics will, long before that distant day, have been gathered to
the Stephenses and Scapulas of other times. Wo betide the luck-
less wight, who has determined to reserve the enucleation of hard,
words, beginning with any letter after pi, which he may meet with

171

in the course of his studies, till the latter numbers of the improved
Thesaurus shall come forth !—Such a work as this deserved an
antediluvian race of publishers and purchasers.

It may be said, that it was impossible to ascertain beforehand,
with any degree of precision, the magnitude of a work of this na-
ture, and therefore that the subscribers have no right to complain
of the unforeseen extension of the price and time. Why then did
the conductors of the work pledge themselves to certain limits?

In a prospectus printed in the Classical Journal seven years ago,
it is said that 'the work will be published in twenty-four numbers;
to be completed in four or five years.' The first number appear-
ed in 1815; and at the present moment six or seven numbers, we
believe, have made their appearance. But we have seen only four;
of which the last column, numbered 688, corresponds, as we ob-
served, with p. 53 of the original work. Now the total number of
columns in the three volumes of the original work, is 6273; and
as 53 are to 688, so are 6273 to 81,430 and a fraction. The num-
ber of columns in one number of the new edition is about 360, and
the quotient of 81,430 divided by 360 is 226 and a fraction. Add
to this the fourth volume, which will probably occupy ten numbers
more at least, and we shall have 236 numbers, which, with the Glos-
saries, and the two first numbers, will make up nearly 240 num-
bers, being just ten times as many as are announced in the Pros-
pectus; and the expense will be to the noble and plebeian subscri-
bers respectively 480 and 240 guineas. Thus by another calcu-
lation, we have arrived at a result still more alarming than the first;
and even this, we are convinced, falls short of the actual evil. —
The proposals were, in the first instance, for a republication of
Stephens's Thesaurus; a work, which the scarcity of the original
edition would have rendered valuable and useful. Then it was to
be an improved and enlarged edition; this was suspicious : but
when the first number made its appearance, containing not one
word of the Thesaurus, but a farrago of treatises by various au-
thors, most of them of common occurrence, such as that of Kuster
de verbis mediis, some of the subscribers took the alarm, and de-
clined having any thing further to do with a work, which set out
with a complete deviation from the Prospectus, which had induced
them to give the sanction of their names. - - It is very obvi-
ous that there were two distinct plans of proceeding, either of
which the publishers might with propriety have adopted. The
first was, to give a new edition of Stephens, incorporating the ad-
ditions which he has inserted in the Index, verifyiug and giving
accurate references for the quotations, and nothing more. This
was the original plan of the present edition. 'Their first intention
' was only to incorporate into the Thes. (an elegant abbreviation!)
' those words with which H. Stephens met after the completion of

172

' the work, and which he has thrown into his Index — to insert in
' the Thes. Scott's Appendix—and to verify the quotations. But
' they mean to extend their plan, because thy entertain little doubt
' of the success of their undertaking,'(a) i.e. in a pecuniary point of
view. The other was, to publish an entirely new Thesaurus, on
the plan of Stephens, but according to a more philosophical ar-
rangement, availing themselves of the collections of more recent
philologists, and introducing such alterations and improvements as
might have been deemed expedient. Instead of which, the present
editors have most injudiciously endeavoured to combine the two
plans. - -

In a publication, which professes to be a new edition of Stephens's
Thesaurus, we may reasonably expect to find the labours of that
lexicographer so distinctly separated from the recent additions to
his work, that we shall have no difficulty in determining what is
Stephens's and what is not. But so little is this just and necessary
assignment of property attended to in the present work, that it is
extremely difficult for the student to ascertain what portion of an
article belongs to the original edition, and what is peculiar to the
new. Parenthesis within parenthesis, aud bracketed brackets
confuse us in our inquiry, and demand more time than we can af-
ford to bestf.'H upon the parentage of each remark. - -

One decisive example of each meaning, is as good as twenty. If
instances are piled one upon another at this rate, from the margins
and commonplace books of industrious scholars, we shall come by
degrees to have a Thesaurus, comprising all the works of all the
Greek authors, but in shreds and patches. It will scarcely be cre-
dited, that 139 columns are occupied by the single word Αγαλμα,
or rather by a series of dissertations upon every thing relating to
ornaments, images, and decorations of all kinds, with occasional
episodes upon matters altogether foreign, which happen to cross
the Editor, as he is hunting the word αγαλμα. through all the mazes
of philology. It is curious to observe how frequently he loses the
scent, and goes off upon a new track, if some curious expression
or custom thwarts his path. For instance, the word αγαλμα occurs
in the last line of an epigram, which the editor transcribes at full
length, as usual, (for it is no uncommon thing for him to give us
half a page of an author at a time,) and in which epigram, mention
is made of the custom which hunters had, of suspending some part
of the game to a tree, as an offering to some deity; a custom
known to every fourth-form boy. Accordingly, off goes the edi-
tor, in a note upon this practice, not containing one word about
αγαλμα. In the next page but one, because Ἔχατης αγαλμα is used
by Aristophanes to signify a dog, he actually begins a dissertation,

173

which is continued through fifty-five columns, upon the sacrifices
offered to Hecate and other gods, and the different titles of Hecate,
and notes on the Τριβαλλοι, and Sophron, and ἀμματιζω and Mer-
cury, and the ancient chemists, and what not ! — but not a word of
or relating to αγαλμα in the whole of this enormous excrescence.
Again, we have a careful enumeration of all the passages which
contain any mention of αγαλμα Διος, Πανος, Απολλωνος, &c. and so
on through the whole pantheon; which kind of obscura diligentia
is much the same as would be that of an English lexicographer,
who, under the word Church, should proceed to enumerate St.
Paul's Church, St. James's Church, St. Pancras, St. Botolph, St.
Benet Fink, Alhallows Barking, and Christ Church, which, of
course, would furnish a good opportunity for several dissertatory
columns upon Oxford, Cardinal Wolsey, &c. And this it is to edit
Stephens! We are fully sensible of the difficulty of the undertak-
ing, and how vain it is to expect to please every body; but the want
of judgment, and of consideration for the subscribers' eyes and
pockets, which is manifested in this and in similar instances, must
not pass without reproof. The editors seem to have raked toge-
ther all the commonplace books of all the readers of Greek, who
have been in the habit of using interleaved lexicons, or roomy
margins, for the purpose of pouring all their contents into this
'captious and terrible sieve.' If, for instance, Mr. Schaefer or
Mr. Boissonade, very learned and excellent men, (the former of
whom has a strange trick of writing long notes in indexes,) hap-
pen to have elucubrated, for their own satisfaction, a disquisition
upon some particular word, or, as the learned editor would say, to
have dissertated upon it; no matter how much extraneous discus-
sion is introduced, which has no immediate connexion with the
word in question, away it goes to the iEdes Valpianae, in Took's
Court, and thence into the Thes. whole and entire. The conse-
quence is, as we have shown, that in numerous instances, instead
of a clear, methodical account of a word, with its various meanings
regularly deduced, and illustrated by a few opposite and decisive
authorities, we have long, desultory diatribes on a great many
other words, which are not, to be sure, the words that we are in-
quiring for, but they are of the same genus; they all end, perhaps,
in u, or they have all a peculiar twist in the head or tail, and
therefore, says the editor, as you are curious about one of them,
here they are all — walk in, ladies and gentlemen, and see what
you shall see! But we must beg pardon for sporting with the feel-
ings of the large paper subscribers, the four hundred guinea gen-
tlemen, to whom all this dilatation of bulk is avery serious concern.
Let them, however, take comfort in the consideration, that in pro-
portion to the growth of the Thesaurus, will be the number of tall-
paper copies in their libraries, and of course the increase of their

174

own satisfaction. — The editors are aware of the censure which they
have deservedly incurred in this respect, and have offered the fol-
lowing apology in a recent number of the Classical Journal.

' Should any of the subscribers, from a cursory view of the work,
' be disposed to infer that, as so much space is employed in the ex-
• planations of some words, there is but little chance of the under-
' taking ever being completed within the prescribed limits, the edi-
' tors would add, that much of the matter, both in the text and notes,
• relates to words which will come under discussion as they pro-
' ceed. The quotations, for instance, introduced from the Greek
' writers and the Greek grammarians, to illustrate the various sig-
' nifications of the word Αγαλμα, are equally applicable to the illus-
'trations of the synonymes Ἀγαλμα, Ανδριας, βρετας, Γραφη, Ξεανον,
' &c. [synonymes, forsooth!] and thus the work is in reality ad-
' vanced in proportion to the extent of such matter.'

But this defence, although plausible, is not true. The question
is not, whether every word is to be illustrated at equal length; but
whether a proportionable number of words, throughout the alpha-
bet, are to serve as pegs for notes and dissertations; and we do not
hesitate to affirm, that if the editors preserve any degree of consis-
tency or plan, and illustrate other classes of words in the same
manner as they have elucidated αγαλμα, and some others, the mag-
nitude of the entire work will even exceed that which we have as
signed to it.

[Here many extracts are made, and comparisons with the ori-
ginal Thesaurus. He adds;]

We are aware that we have to apologize to our readers for
wasting so much valuable paper upon these uninteresting extracts;
but we were desirous of giving one or two specimens of the enor-
mous rate at which the editors are trifling with the time and money
of their subscribers. It really seems as if the encouragement they
have met with, had filled them with such a lively sense of gratitude,
and such a desire to gratify their kind patrons, that they have de-
termined to make the Thesaurus literally a χτημα ες αει, a book to
be purchased for ever, a cyclic library, a publication at once peri-
odical and perennial; compiled, as they themselves say, 'not for
the present generation only, but for posterity also.' — Insere, Daphni,
pyros, carpent tua poma nepotes! — an heir-loom, to be bequeathed
in some such clause as the following : 'Item. I give and bequeath
to my dear son, A. B. all those thirty-three volumes in folio, entitled
A New and improved edition of Stephens's Thesaurus, being so
much of the said work as has been yet published; also I hereby de-
vise to him and to his heirs for ever, all my right and title in the re-
maining twenty or more volumes of the said work, upon condition
of his or their paying, from time to time, the sum of two pounds
two shillings, lawful money of Great-Brhain, for each number as it

175

shall come out.' In short, to use the words of a judicious and ele-
gant panegyrist in the Literary Gazette, " we cannot help strongly
advising such as may see this notice, and do not yet subscribe, not
to pass by this opportunity of drawing into their family, at a price
comparatively trifling, (when it is recollected that the price of the
old edition, small paper, had got up to 75 l.) what might serve as
an invaluable heir-loom to their posterity's posterity!"

We are not disposed to enter at length into a consideration of the
original criticisms which the editors have inserted; but we cannot
forbear from noticing the most extraordinary confession which they
have made, in a defence of themselves against the remarks of Mr.
Hermann. 'In concluding, the Editors would remark, that all the
' criticisms in their work are to be considered as autoschediastic,' (a
much nicer word than extemporaneous, or off-hand,) 'because, as
' soon as they are finished, they are despatched to the press, and that
' very little opportunity is afforded to them of correcting those er-
' rors, and supplying those defects, which a leisurely and careful re-
' vision could not fail to discover.' A pretty consolation to the
purchasers of a work, in which, if in any, extreme care and accu-
racy are required, to be told, that the editors are sensible that there
are errors and defects in their remarks, but that they have no time
to revise them! If they cannot find leisure to consider their own ob-
servations, much less can it be in their power to weigh and com-
pare the discordant opinions of other critics, and to pronounce a de-
cisive judgment upon those questions of philology which the student
expects to find authoritatively settled in a work of this nature. —
Yet they tell us, that — 'they are criticised with the same severity,
' as if they had expressly undertaken, what they did not undertake,
' to give a perfect Lexicon; as if they possessed, what they do not
' possess, unlimited resources in books and money; as if they could
' command, what they cannot command, all the time requisite for
' the undertaking; as if they had secured, what they have not se-
' cured, subscribers disposed, one and all, to wait with silent pa-
' tience the slow progress of the work.' A most extraordinary
apology! If the Editors had undertaken to give a perfect Lexicon,
we should have set them down as arrogant and ignorant pretenders.
But they certainly did undertake to give a Lexicon as nearly per-
fect as the circumstances of the case would admit of; and we defy
them to say that they have done this, or any thing like it. They did
possess unlimited resources in books; not in their own libraries
perhaps, but in the public repositories of literature. It is never a
valid excuse for any scholar to say, that he did not consult this or
that book. The answer is, he ought to have done so; and if we
are told that this would have demanded a greater expenditure of
time and money; we reply, that we would rather wait longer, and

176

pay more, for a good book, than have a bad one immediately at
less expense. * * *

We must not omit to remark, that the editors manifest a com-
mendable impartiality in their quotations from contemporary scho-
lars, although they are disposed to speak in somewhat exalted
terms of their own decrees. Mr. E. H. Barker is generally under
stood to be the chief, if not the sole, conductor of the present work;
and we could therefore have dispensed with such expressions as
'vide omnino nos in Classical Recreations' — 'Recte E. H. Barker
in Epistola Critica ad Thomam Gaisford,' — 'Errasse virum doc-
tissimum ostendit E. H. Barker,' — 'Porsoni errorem notavit E. H.
Barker.'

Our general opinion of the new Thesaurus may be collected
from the foregoing remarks, the length of which is only to be jus-
tified by the consideration, that the reputation of our country for
classical learning is materially involved in this great undertaking :
a still more important consideration is, that it effectually precludes
all hope of a more perfect and useful Thesaurus. New editions of
Stephens had been for some years preparing in Germany and
France, which have since been relinquished; and the materials col-
lected for them poured, as Mr. Dibdin elegantly expresses it, in his
Bibliomania, " almost voluntarily, as well as absolutely, into the ca-
pacious reservoir of A. J. Valpy." The present editors have spared
no expense; their research has been indefatigable, and their own read-
ing very extensive; but they should have taken time and advice.
We are told that 'they have, for their director and guide, the first
and most accomplished scholar in the kingdom.' That the emi-
nent scholar, here alluded to, was consulted in the first instance,
and gave his sanction to the undertaking, we have no reason to
doubt; but we venture to assert, from the opinion which we enter-
tain of his profound learning and chastised judgment, that he nei-
ther does nor cau approve of the execution of the work. It is quite
clear that he is neither their director nor their guide, because Mr.
Barker himself acknowledges that the work is 'autoschediastic,'
and that he has not time to revise even his own observations. Mr.
Dibdin, with his usual felicity of phrase, talks of the editors, as
having " intrusted to their conduct a monument more lasting than
brass :" more lasting indeed it is likely to be, as we have already
shown; and we should not be surprised if it were to outlast not only
the brass, but the gold, as well as the lives of the subscribers.


______________________________

(from p.163) (a) We allude to a precious scheme of Mr. Valpy's, now in
progress, of republishing the very worst edition of the Latin Classics.
This indefatigable and zealous printer does not seem to have had the
remotest idea, that the value of the original Delphin editions consisted
almost entirely in their scarcity; a merit which his own publication of
course cannot possess. The Regent Classics are minute volumes, with short
prefaces in bad Latin by a Mr. Carolus Coote.

(from p.172) (a) Classical Journal, No. XIX.